


The Potion Maker

by Miasen



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Fluff, M/M, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23634745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miasen/pseuds/Miasen
Summary: It was in a moment of sheer desperation that Naruto found himself knocking on the door of the small cottage. Nestled between utilitarian apartment buildings it was startlingly out of place with its overgrown garden and thatched roof. He was certain that the cottage hadn't been there the day before, just as he was certain it was the exact place he needed to go.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 23
Kudos: 209





	The Potion Maker

**Author's Note:**

> This was my piece for the Eclipsed zine from last year. I figure it's time I shared it here as well, for those of you who didn't get the zine.

It was in a moment of sheer desperation that Naruto found himself knocking on the door of the small cottage. Nestled between utilitarian apartment buildings it was startlingly out of place with its overgrown garden and thatched roof. He was certain that the cottage hadn't been there the day before, just as he was certain it was the exact place he needed to go.

There was something eerie about the place, but he couldn't pinpoint what exactly. A rich scent of strange herbs heavy around him, a shimmer of something indistinguishable in the air, the way the weather was a little nicer around the garden; sky a little bluer, air a little warmer.

The door slid open, but there was no one inside when Naruto peeked through the doorway. He hesitated a moment then stepped inside, calling out a shaky, “Hello?”

No one answered, and he was about to step further into the cottage when he felt something curl around his leg. He peered down and saw a triangular face peering up at him, a snake with its body wrapped twice around Naruto’s ankle. Naruto froze.

“Stand still. He doesn't bite unless you scare him,” a voice said from a room further inside. 

Naruto didn't have any problem standing stock still, staring down at the snake until there were steps and someone walked into the hallway. Green eyes with slit pupils peered up at him, and it was as if the snake could see right through to his soul. Naruto shuddered a little, feeling exposed. 

“Come here, Aoda,” the voice said, and the blue snake unwound from Naruto’s ankle, slithering away. Naruto followed its trail until pale hands lifted the snake, and it curled around the wide-brimmed hat atop the head of the man who had just walked inside. The hat was pointy, the tip flopping behind the other's head. 

“What do you want here?” the man said, dark eyes narrowed as he watched Naruto. His arms were crossed in clear disapproval.

“I have a problem,” Naruto answered, eyes darting up to the snake who hissed once and went to sleep.

The man turned, walking away. “You humans all do.”

Naruto dashed after him, deeper into the dim cottage, the smell of herbs and firewood heavy in the air.

“You're… you're a witch,” Naruto stuttered out, looking around the room they'd entered with eyes wide with wonder. It was a kitchen, but nothing like any kitchen Naruto had ever seen. Dried flowers hung in bundles from heavy beams that crossed the ceiling, several cauldrons were bubbling on open flames stoked right on top of the wooden countertop, and a kitchen table was filled with small bottles and vials in an array of sizes and shapes. Open shelves were stacked with boxes marked in spindly handwriting.  _ Nightshade. Batwings. Eye of Newt.  _

Naruto shuddered and looked back to the man—the witch—who was grinding seeds in a stone mortar. He wasn’t sure coming here had been a good idea, but his feet had carried him mostly by themselves, so he figured this was where he needed to be. He took a step closer, about to ask if the witch would help him, but in the process, he hit something standing on a counter with his elbow. He watched with big eyes as a small wooden box fell to the ground, lid falling open, spilling something tiny and glimmering across the floor, some falling between the cracks of the floorboards. 

Naruto dropped to his knees and was about to start shoveling whatever it was back in its box when the witch’s hand shot out, wrapping around his wrist to halt him. 

“Dumbass, you are going to ruin them if you touch them! Fairy wings are fragile.”

Naruto blinked up at him. The witch’s hand was cool around his wrist. He could swear he felt the prickle of magic against his skin and he shivered a little, drawing a shaky breath as he met the witch’s eyes, narrowed in annoyance.

“I’m sorry;” Naruto said, “I didn’t mean to! I just…”

“Typical human, bumbling through life, so brash.” The witch shook his head and with a gentle flick of his wrist, the transparent wings fluttered back into the box by themselves. With careful hands he lifted the box and placed it back on the counter, making sure to push it far enough in so Naruto wouldn’t accidentally knock it over again.

Naruto was sure he was about to be tossed out, but the witch just turned back to his mortar.

“What's your name?” Naruto asked after a minute of silence, a little scared to ask any of the myriads of other questions spinning in his mind, but also growing antsy from the silence. 

The witch turned, considered Naruto for a moment before turning back, sprinkling a dark red powder into his mixture. 

“You may call me Sasuke,  _ Naruto _ .”

Naruto thought he should be disconcerted that the witch already knew his name, but it felt oddly right. Somehow he thought that if the witch hadn't known who he was he'd never have let Naruto find the place at all. 

With a tip of an experienced hand a few drops of amber liquid fell into the mixture from a tiny vial. Golden smoke rose in a thin tendril, and for a moment Naruto was sure he saw it form shapes as if it was alive. Sasuke’s fingers froze momentarily in the process of grabbing a pinch of dried herbs, but then he quickly threw it into the bowl, and the smoke vanished in a puff of flame. Sasuke grabbed a small bottle, unstoppered it and poured the thick liquid in. It shone the deep red of wine and glimmered a little in the flickering light of flames. 

“Two drops a day and you'll be rid of your problem,” Sasuke said as he handed over the bottle, now stoppered again. He watched Naruto for a moment, and Naruto felt oddly exposed under his gaze, shivering a little. 

“Now, as for payment…”

***

The sun was sweltering hot as Naruto crawled on his knees through the overgrown garden, looking for snails. Every single one was to be picked up, placed in a bucket and carried into the kitchen. Naruto didn't think he wanted to know what they were going to be used for. Hopefully not dinner.

It wasn’t his first day doing menial tasks around the small cottage whose location seemed to differ each day, but somehow Naruto never had a hard time finding. He’d thought the payment Sasuke had wanted would be good old cash, but Sasuke had scoffed at the mere mention of money.  _ Money is just paper, what use is more paper to me.  _

So instead Naruto spent a few hours every other day helping out with manual labor. So far he’d mended the fence, pulled weeds, patched up the roof and painted the outside of the cottage. It wasn’t too bad, he liked physical work, liked seeing the way he left things better than they were. The two weeks since he first walked up the path to the cottage had vanished quickly.

He looked up from his bucket, having dropped another snail in it with the tongs Sasuke had handed him, and found Sasuke sitting on his knees by the flowerbed that ran the length of the house. He was plucking petals from bright blue flowers, gathering them in a small basket before he stood to walk inside the cottage, presumably to work on whatever brew he was making.

As he walked past him, Sasuke’s eyes met his, the gaze dark and unreadable. Naruto gulped, completely captivated and unable to look away. He was rewarded with a smirk that was almost a smile from Sasuke before he left him to his desnailing. The snake, which Naruto had learned was Sasuke’s familiar, was coiled around Sasuke’s neck like a necklace, sleeping soundly. Naruto had realized that it was as the witch it was bound to—a bit standoffish but fairly harmless—at least as long as they were unprovoked. 

Occasionally people would wander up the garden path in search of remedies for broken hearts, or potions for luck, or treatments for ailments. Invariably Sasuke treated them like he didn’t want anything to do with them, but acted merely to get them out of his way, taking his payment in wares or shiny objects, but never money, and never once did he ask any of them to hang around and pay in manual labor. People usually left a little more lighthearted than they arrived, but twice he had seen people ask too much, ask for help with things of a more nefarious manner, and Sasuke’s face would immediately stiffen, darkness clouding over his features as he spoke, voice cold and distant. He was scary like that, showed promise of so much more than the quiet potion maker he made himself out as, and those that asked left in a hurry, never to come back. 

There was so much about the witch Naruto didn’t understand, something unattainable and otherly, but he found more and more that he was unable to keep his gaze away from him. There was something captivating about how his deft hands finely chopped herbs, or the absolute attention he gave his potions, stoking fires and gently adjusting the ingredients, always making sure the end result was perfect. 

It was not just the way he worked though. When Naruto had been supposed to be mending the roof he had spent probably half the time peering down at Sasuke where he was sitting in the shade of a large oak, an ancient leather-bound tome in his lap, carefully pouring over magic that Naruto couldn’t even begin to fathom. Occasionally he’d lift a hand and trace his fingers through the air, and shimmering marks rose before him only to vanish in a breath of wind. 

Sasuke had caught him looking, and rather than tell him off for not working he just looked at him, long and quiet, until Naruto had to look away from that unreadable gaze.

If Naruto were to describe what he believed a witch to be like, Sasuke would be pretty far from what he would have come up with. Stunning and young, cold but yet with a hidden heat in his gaze when their eyes met in the dim of the kitchen when Naruto came in, carrying the bucket of snails. He shuddered and had to look away, his heart pounding in his chest, cheeks flush with warmth. 

“Is it enough?” Naruto asked in an attempt to focus, holding out the bucket. The room was warm, and the air thick with the scent of herbs and brewing potions, and Naruto wondered how Sasuke could stand wearing his floppy witches’ hat, eyes dark underneath the brim, dark hair framing his face, showing off sharp cheekbones.  _ Pretty _ .

Sasuke barely glanced down at the bucket. “It’s fine, put it in the sink for now.”

Naruto nodded and headed over to the large farmhouse sink, moving the teacups in it to the side so he could place the bucket there, pushing one of the snails that had almost escaped back down. 

When he turned back, Sasuke was right there, and Naruto drew a sharp breath. Sasuke wore a flowy white shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, showing off the sharp dips of his collarbone. As always when he worked, he had rolled it up to his elbows, exposing the delicate bones of his wrists. Naruto’s gaze dropped, but that didn’t help as he took in the tight pants clinging to Sasuke’s thighs, or the bare feet, toenails painted dark purple. 

He looked up and was sure he was blushing fiercely, especially when he saw Sasuke’s lips curl into a small smirk. 

Naruto took a step backward and bumped into a rickety shelf of potion ingredients. Sasuke took a step forward, crowding up against him, and Naruto felt his heart slam against his ribcage, his palms growing sweaty. A little out of fear of what the witch was capable of, but mostly something else entirely. 

This close he could see Sasuke’s eyelashes as he blinked, long and dark. 

Sasuke reached up, and Naruto stopped breathing entirely. 

“Something wrong?” Sasuke asked bemused as he pulled back, a battered box labeled  _ Moonstone  _ in his hand.

Naruto shook his head a little too vigorously, and Sasuke turned back to his potion, a low chuckle rising from his chest. 

Only a couple of weeks ago Naruto didn’t believe in witches, now look at him, lusting for one, maybe even falling a little for one. He would have thought Sasuke had cast a spell over him, but he remembered how Sasuke had told one of those seeking his help that there was no way to create attraction where there were none, that magic could only enhance what might already be present.

_ Magic can stoke dying flames or have flowers spring from seeds in mere moments, but it cannot create that which is not already there _ . The girl had left empty-handed and a little heartbroken, but ultimately she would get over it and be better for it.

“Would you fetch me the extract of sage? Small bottle, top shelf?” Sasuke asked over his shoulder. 

“Ah, yeah, sure,” Naruto said, turning around with one last longing glance at Sasuke’s back. The small bottle was easy enough to find, and he reached for it, having to stretch up on the tips of his toes, just barely getting there, fingers nudging against it so it toppled off its shelf. He grabbed for it, but in the process stumbled over uneven floorboards. He could feel himself falling, but then Sasuke was there, a warm hand curled around Naruto’s upper arm steadying him.

“Careful,” Sasuke said quietly, voice low and a little rough, and Naruto shuddered a little. 

Sasuke removed his hand slowly, and Naruto was sure the way Sasuke’s fingers slid over his skin was deliberate. He missed the touch the moment it was gone. 

Sasuke turned back to the counter, picking up his knife, but then stopping again. “Do you want to help with the potion?” he asked, looking back over his shoulder. 

Naruto hesitated. “You… want me to help?”

“Come here.”

Naruto’s legs were carrying him towards Sasuke before he’d even thought it through. The corners of Sasuke’s lips quirked up as he stepped to the side, let Naruto take the spot in front of the chopping board. 

The knife was like any other kitchen knife as far as Naruto could tell, but his fingers prickled a little when he picked it up. The heavy wooden cutting board was laden with the blue flower petals Sasuke had picked earlier. 

“They need to be finely chopped, then we’ll mix them with the extract of sage later on.”

Naruto was hesitant to bring the knife down, wondering if they really were regular flowers, or if there was some potent magic that would be unleashed. Sasuke seemed to pick up on his unease and soon he was crowding up against Naruto’s back, one hand gently grasping Naruto’s, fingers curling around the knife handle, steadying him as he brought the knife down over the first petals, carving them into smaller pieces. Naruto held his breath, but nothing happened. 

“They are just flowers on their own. It’s only together they make something else.” Sasuke’s chin was resting on Naruto’s shoulder, bringing the knife down again. “Most of magic is just that, the ordinary in an extraordinary combination.”

“So, I could brew magical potions on my own?”

Sasuke chuckled. “In theory. Some potions you could make, yes. I could teach you a simple sleeping draught if you wanted to. Most ask for a little extra flair to them though.”

“Oh.” Naruto looking down at their hands, marveling at how they looked together like this, Sasuke’s pale fine-boned hands against Naruto’s tan, rough ones. 

He let out a startled sound when he felt something curl around his other wrist, and when he looked down he saw the snake, Aoda, slithering from Sasuke’s wrist to make home around Naruto’s arm instead, coiling twice, head resting on the back of Naruto’s hand where it was lying on the countertop. 

“He trusts you,” Sasuke said. “He never trusts anyone that isn’t me.”

“He’s beautiful,” Naruto whispered. Something in the air made it seem wrong to speak louder, which was a miracle in itself because Naruto rarely did quiet well. 

It felt as if Sasuke was about to say something, but nothing but soft breaths came from his lips, and Naruto turned a little, enough that he could look at him out of the corner of his eye.

“Does it get lonely living like this? Alone, with people coming only when they want something?”

“I don’t like most people. I’m usually glad to see them go. Besides, I have Aoda for company.” He reached out and rubbed gently over the snake’s shells. 

Naruto hesitated, but then jumped in, saying what he wanted to. “You have me as well.”

Sasuke let go of his hand, and Naruto twisted around so they faced each other. Sasuke’s features were shadowed underneath the wide brim of his hat. The look on his face was indecipherable. “Do I? Won’t you leave the moment your debt is paid of?”

Naruto considered. He had intended to get help with his problem, pay it off with what cash he had and leave. And when Sasuke had first said that he demanded sweat and hard work for his payment Naruto had every intention of doing the chores he was given and then not come back, still a little unnerved by the witch, but then he had learned to know the other, and at some point, things had changed. 

“No, I wouldn’t. Not if you wanted me to stay.”

“Well, then you can consider your debt paid off in full.”

Naruto startled at Sasuke’s words. “I don’t owe you anything anymore?”

Sasuke shook his head. “If you stay here now it will be of your own volition, not because I force you into anything.” He sounded a bit unsure as if he was fearing Naruto turning around and leaving that very instance. 

Naruto’s face split in a large grin, and before he could chicken out he leaned in and kissed Sasuke. 

It seemed to take Sasuke by surprise, because he stood still for a moment, and then he was kissing back. Arms wrapped around Naruto’s shoulders, pulling him close to him, and he kissed as if he had longed for it, wanted nothing else. 

When they pulled apart Naruto couldn’t stop smiling, warmth spreading through him at having Sasuke in his arms. “Now I stay for you.”

Sasuke smiled at him, and there was a soft quality to it, and Naruto didn’t think many people had seen this smile, genuinely happy. 

“You don’t usually make people pay in manual labor do you?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke hesitated, and the smallest of blushes rose on his cheeks. “You’re special. I… didn’t want you to leave and never come back like everyone else. Besides, Aoda told me to keep you around, and Aoda is rarely wrong.”

Naruto pulled him to him in a tight hug, elation rushing through him. He cast a glance down at his arm where the snake was still curled, seemingly caring little what his witch was doing with his human. It did turn its head slightly, one eye focusing on Naruto, jerking a little as if to nod, pleased with the outcome. 

Naruto mouthed a few words of gratitude and the snake drifted off to sleep. It didn’t so much as stir as Naruto went back to kissing Sasuke with enough eagerness to knock the wide-brimmed hat clean off his head. Sasuke let it lie where it landed, too preoccupied with their kisses. 

Sasuke might be a witch, and Naruto a mere human, but nothing had ever felt quite this right.


End file.
